Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Wading Through Walden: Live Like Thoreau

by Sarah Rush

Spring 2017 Intern

I grew up in a small New Hampshire
town and whenever I needed a moment to myself or a breath of cool, fresh air,
all I had to do was walk into my backyard to enter the woods. I welcomed the
escape from civilization, the solitude, the quiet, the diverse array of forest
life. But for many people—including me, now that I’ve moved to Boston—nature
can be difficult to come by.

Now there is a digital way for
everybody to experience the beauty and simplicity of the woods, honoring how
Henry David Thoreau did centuries ago. How? It’s called Walden, a Game, and it’s a highly detailed simulation
of Thoreau’s years living by Walden Pond in Massachusetts. A famous author,
philosopher and environmentalist, Thoreau was one
of the leaders of transcendentalism, a movement that prized the natural world
over civilization, emotion over reason, and the individual over the masses.

In 1845, Thoreau moved to Walden
Pond for two years to practice a mostly self-sufficient way of life and write
about his experiences. During this time he produced a renowned collection of
essays called Walden. Now we can all
share in these revelations through a rather unusual medium: the computer. Walden,
a Game, is a six-hour simulation of Thoreau’s experiences, beginning in summer
and ending after his first year.

In the game, you spend the year
building and maintaining your cabin, harvesting beans, exploring the woods,
interacting with animals, collecting wild fruit and vegetables, fishing, entering
town to buy supplies and chat with Ralph Waldo Emerson, and recording
observations in your journal. Meanwhile, excerpts from Walden are read to you over soothing music and the sounds of birdsong.
The game’s dedication to reality is uncanny—you can faint from lack of energy
if you don’t eat enough, and if you work too hard, your “inspiration” will
lower, causing the colors and music to fade. Don’t forget to spend time
contemplating and meditating, just as Thoreau did.

Designed by the founding director
of the Game Innovation Lab at the University of Southern California, Tracy J.
Fullerton, the game is intended to encourage
balance and a love of nature in our technology-crazed world and inspire young
people to read Thoreau’s Walden. An
alpha version of the game is currently available for about $19, but the full
game will be released some time this year in 2017.

While most of us cannot take two
years to completely immerse ourselves in nature, we can certainly spare six
hours to wade through Walden Pond with Thoreau. What will you discover out there?

Did You Know?

This isn’t the first digital
venture honoring Thoreau and Walden.
In a previous blog post, we covered Digital Thoreau, a project that provides
digital access to several versions of Thoreau’s work. Check out the blog post here!

No comments:

Post a Comment

About Us

Founded in 2003, Publishing Solutions Group (PSG) has helped many businesses bring complex publishing projects to life with innovative, high-impact solutions on time, on budget and always of exceedingly high quality. We blend high-caliber resources with deep subject matter expertise and focus together with effective solutions and services to help conceptualize, design and develop content that will provide you and your audience with the perfect outcome.

What do we do?PSG provides a broad range of services and solutions such as Editorial, Design, Production, Translation and Localization, Assessment, Interactive and Digital, Audio Casting and Production and Project Management to support our clients develop highly engaging content. Publishing Solutions Group… ‘Solutions’ is our middle name.